


Not Exactly Juice

by theholidayclub



Category: Newsies (1992)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Mild Language, Underage Drinking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-12
Updated: 2013-12-12
Packaged: 2018-01-04 10:17:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1079806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theholidayclub/pseuds/theholidayclub
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: David ingests a large amount of something that he doesn't know is alcoholic, Jack has to look after him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Exactly Juice

There was a laundry list of reasons why David didn’t go to parties. He wasn’t overly fond of loud crowds or loud music. He had a very tight knit group of friends, and didn’t really see a need to make new ones. Parties always ended up going late into the night, and while he didn’t want to be a stick in the mud, he  _did_ have class the next morning.

He’d been dragged along anyway, despite loud protests, because the guys needed a ride, and Blink’s car was in the shop, and ‘You really gotta get out more Davey. You’re never gonna get laid if you spend all your time studying.’

Despite insisting he neither wanted nor needed to be set up with some drunk sorority girl, and that he got out plenty when he hung out with them, they ignored him. He’d ended up driving most of the newspaper staff over to the frat house in his old minivan, glaring at Jack, who sat smugly in the passenger seat, every chance he got.

It was everything he knew it would be. Loud, crowded, with every room smelling like alcohol. David was determined to avoid the party as much as he could, hiding out in the kitchen, sipping bitterly at the drinks one of the frat boys kept shoving in his hand throughout the night.

Now, he sat on the floor of the hallway, holding his head in his hands and trying his hardest not to vomit all over the ugly carpet.

“Well ain’t this a sight to see.”

In David’s defense, he really had thought that it was apple juice at first, and he certainly didn’t appreciate Jack laughing at him, thank you very much, and he’d really prefer it if he stopped.

Of course, when he tried to tell Jack that, it didn’t come out quite as clearly as he wanted, and the Irish boy currently towering over him only laughed harder.

“You make a shitty designated driver, Dave.” Jack knelt down in front of David, shaking his head at the boy slumped against the wall. He wrapped an arm around his waist, hoisting the younger boy to his feet.

“Who – who said…when’d I become designated?”

“Well, your outright refusal to drink anything helped, for starters. The fact that you’re one of the few of us who have a license also earned you the title. Come on, Davey, on your feet. You weigh a ton.”

David stumbled a bit as he stood up, leaning heavily on Jack. “What’s gonna happen to the guys now?”

“Skittery’s got his eye on Blink and Mush, said he’d get them back to the hall no problem. Most of the others, Race and Boots and them have ditched already.”

“S’not fair,” David murmured.

“Dave, it’s nice of ya and all, but I’m not sure that driving is the best –”

“Not that,” David interrupted loudly, drawing the attention of the few stragglers still enjoying the party. “No one ever uses my nickname.”

Jack rolled his eyes, grunting as he adjusted his hold on David. “You really want us to go around calling you the Walking Mouth all the time?”

David blinked comically, looking as though he had only just remembered what his nickname was. “Oh. ‘Spose not.”

David had a really bad habit of never knowing when to shut the hell up. When he first joined the newspaper staff at the beginning of his sophomore year, he’d talked everyone’s ear off, rambling about things no one really cared about, and asking questions no one really wanted to answer. The name Walking Mouth had originally been an insult, but it stuck to the point where David started to find it endearing.

Still, it was too much of a mouthful (no pun intended) to use all the time, so while most of the other guys on the staff went by nicknames, he was just David.

Jack was just Jack though, and that made David feel a little better about the whole thing.

His eyes narrowed as they walked right past his car and headed slowly down the sidewalk. “Whereya takin me?” he asked.

“Well, I don’t drive, and you can’t go back to the dorm this hammered, they’ll flip their shit, so we’re gonna find a place to camp out until you sober up,” Jack explained slowly, reminding David of when he told his little brother that he was moving out to go to school.

“I am sober,” David insisted, detaching himself from Jack and hoping the other boy didn’t notice the way he almost tumbled to the ground.

“You’ve never been exactly what I would call graceful, Dave, but even you don’t trip over nothing like that.”

Damn.

—

Twenty minutes and a lot of stumbling and complaining from David later, the two college students sat on the fire escape of an apartment building just off of their campus. David was worried about getting caught and arrested, but Jack assured him that as long as they weren’t too loud, they’d be okay.

Normally, David would have argued, and insisted they find a less public place to rest, but at that moment, he just wanted to ground to stop wobbling so much.

“How ya feelin?” Jack asked, leaning against the railing next to David.

“Very dizzy. Kind of nauseous.” David grabbed hold of the rail and tried to pull himself to his feet. “Scratch that, very nauseous,” he said, lowering himself back down and curling up into a ball. Head resting on his knees, he sighed, feeling a mixture of emotions he couldn’t quite name, but mostly embarrassed.

Jack sat down next to David, bumping his shoulder against the other boy’s lightly, careful not to jostle him, and flashing him a fond smile. “You’re doing better than I did the first time I drank. Course, I was sixteen at the time and it was really shitty beer, but still. I was a mess. You’re holding yourself together pretty well.”

“Never again,” David insisted, picking up his head and glaring at Jack. “I’m never going to one of those stupid parties again. I didn’t want to go this time and you dragged me and I am nearly twenty years old and perfectly capable of not going to something I don’t want to go to and it doesn’t matter how much you ask me next time I’m –”

David never got the chance to finish his thought. Jack cut him off completely, pressing his lips to David’s and shocking him into silence.

He was smirking when he pulled back, studying David’s expression with obvious amusement on his face. “Cat got your tongue, Davey?”

“No, that would be you,” David said, flushing red when he realized he’d voiced the thought out loud. “Will ya do that again if I go to another party?”

“Only if you stand by that no drinking policy of yours. No offense, Dave, but your breath stinks.”


End file.
